OFW households saving more, investing less

MANILA, Philippines — More families of overseas Filipino workers are getting into the habit of saving, according to the results of a quarterly survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

BSP officer-in-charge of the Department of Economic Statistics Fernando Salvoza said the fourth quarter Consumer Expectation Survey showed the percentage of OFW households using remittances to save increased to 38.5 percent from 37.3 percent in the previous quarter.

The percentage of OFW households using remittances to save as of the fourth quarter of the year was almost six times the 7.2 percent recorded when the CES was launched in the first quarter of 2007.

On the other hand, Salvoza said the percentage of beneficiaries of remittances that invested the money sent home by their loved ones declined to 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter from 7.9 percent in the previous quarter.

Despite the decline, the level of OFW households using remittances for investments was almost the 2.3 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2007 when the CES was launched.

“OFW households that utilize their remittances for savings increase, while those for investment decrease for the fourth quarter of 2019,” he said.

Of the 473 households included in the survey that received OFW remittances for the fourth quarter, Salvoza said 97.3 percent used the remittances to purchase food and other household needs.

The percentage of OFW households that apportioned their remittances for the purchase of a house declined to 9.3 percent from 11.4 percent.

On the other hand, the percentage that used the remittances to purchase motor vehicles increased to 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter’s 6.5 percent, while those who used the money to purchase appliances and consumer durables improved slightly to 20.7 percent from 20.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of OFW households that allotted part of their remittances for education reached 64.5 percent, medical expenses at 44.6 percent, and debt payments at 20.1 percent.

In terms of the utilization pattern of OFW households by area, a bigger percentage of OFW households in the National Capital Region allocated part of their remittances to medical expenses, savings, and purchase of consumer durables and a house compared to their counterparts in the areas outside NCR.

Meanwhile, those experiencing difficulty in receiving money remittance from OFW cited the strict requirements such as multiple identification cards, offline system, and error in system processing.     

Latest data from the central bank showed personal remittances composed of cash and non-cash items that flow through both formal or via electronic wire and informal channels such as money or goods carried across borders grew by 4.3 to $27.61 billion from January to October versus a year-ago level of $26.47 billion.